Basketball – Women’s league: Luxol back in play off final after lapse of 16 years

What Luxol failed to do against the champions last Sunday they more than made up for it against Depiro in a match which they controlled from start to finish.

Luxol will now return to a Play Off final after 16 years when they lost to Paola Stars. Depiro were never in the match when Steffi De Martino’s strong start with her triples took the stuffing out her opponents and the Mtarfa outfit didn’t get into their stride. The Violets now wait to see who their adversaries in the final will be.

Depiro were missing Greta Zarb and Kelly Busuttil and Luxol had Becky Naudi unavailable and Tina De Martino injured.

The Violets made a bright start beginning with a Steffi De Martino triple and the side went on to a 10-2 run also ending with another De Martino trey.

Kaila Agius’ points for Depiro weren’t enough to reduce their deficit as Luxol put in another 7-0 run and a further De Martino triple as they took a handsome lead till the end of the period.

Depiro still had Agius and Antoinette Borg to obtain their points but the Violets held on to their advantage although they were not so free with their hoops as in the previous session. At the interval Luxol were enjoying a 26-15 advantage.

After the break Luxol began by extending their advantage but Agius tried to keep her side in the hunt when Luxol’s points began to dwindle a little.

They still had Diana Muscat coming to the fore with help from her friends. Depiro managed to creep just a little bit nearer and after three sessions they were 26-35 behind. The last quarter went completely beyond Depiro when they were hit with an early 10-0 run which left them deflated.

Their response was minimal and the Luxol ladies were left with acres of space in the remaining time as they went on increasing their lead despite momentary retaliation from the losers. Paula Ellul had a piece of the action for Luxol and put also put her name on the score sheet.